Off-piste premier

A restless force who has pushed through changes at home and abroad in a headstrong fashion.

European Voice

4/17/08, 5:51 AM CET

Updated 1/26/16, 4:32 PM CET

Some people suggest that the US radar planned for the Czech Republic would be better located in Brussels, to give warning of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek’s next initiative.

Others argue that its chosen site in the centre of his homeland is just about right to give early warning of the next verbal attack from the short-fused politician on his favourite short-range targets: journalists, opposition leaders or anyone with the wrong views in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In action and words, Topolánek’s style is nothing if not direct – or, as critics say, rude and vulgar. He describes himself as “a restless force…a bit noisy, somewhat impulsive”.

Recent outbursts include calling union leaders and company bosses crooks and liars for their defence

of tax perks for luncheon vouchers, giving the finger to lawmakers in the lower chamber (explained as a sign that the finance minister was number one) and using ill-chosen Nazi phrases.

Despite the fragility of his coalition, Topolánek has pushed through changes at home and abroad in the same headstrong style.

He justified his go-it-alone policy on US visa-waivers with blunt attacks on the European Commission for its failure to win the same visa-free advantages for new member states as older EU states enjoy. He backed US missile defence in complete disregard of Czech public opinion. This 51-year-old leader of a rightwing political party modelled on Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives acts in line with his conviction that politicians should pursue clear and decisive policies.

Topolánek is not part of the hard-core Eurosceptic wing of the Civic Democrats (ODS) and displays little enthusiasm for the routine Brussels-bashing of party founder and current Czech President Václav Klaus. But he is a tepid European.

Fact File

The CV

1956: Born, Vsetín1980-87: Engineering studies, Brno1991-96: Project manager at a mining company 1996: Elected as Czech senator 1998-2002: Chairman of the ODS group of senators 2002: ODS chairman 2006: Elected to lower house and briefly prime minister of ODS minority government 2007: Prime minister at the head of three-way coalition

Topolánek displays little enthusiasm for Brussels-bashing, but is a tepid European

He proudly claims his own ‘Yes’ in the 2004 Czech referendum on EU accession as “51 against 49,“ adding that his criticism of the Union has since deepened. He described the European constitution as excrement and, while its successor makes its way through the Czech parliament, he makes no effort to restrain demands from party members that the Lisbon treaty should be given a constitutional check by the country’s highest court. On foreign policy, he favours close identity of European and US interests and deplores independent French initiatives in Africa and the Middle East.

Topolánek thrives on riding out storms of his own creation – ranging from dumping his long-standing

wife in favour of an ODS deputy more than a decade his junior, to his frequent take-it-or-leave-it inflammatory comments. He survives partly on the basis of the public’s sneaking admiration for their prime minister. Hospodá?rské noviny, a business daily, suggested that Topolánek’s approach often chimes better with the ordinary Czech than the quotations from French history and literature used by Ji?ri Paroubek, his predecessor as premier.

More damaging are accusations of overuse of the privileges of office. After Topolánek was spotted on the slopes, the unscheduled stop by the government plane at an Austrian ski resort on the way back from a foreign trip was lamely explained as a meeting with local Czech diplomats. He cut short his appearance on the country’s showcase political programme to break the speed limit on the motorway in a dash to watch a Czech Davis Cup match.

His public disdain for PR-modelled politicians clashes with his use of some of the best backroom political operators around, and the frequent pictures of him playing golf, tennis and football. After winning leadership of the ODS party in late 2002, largely because he was a useful if little-known compromise candidate, he had a tough act to follow – the party’s founder and still iconic figurehead, Václav Klaus. Klaus did not make it any easier when pictured sending a text message describing the newly elected Topolánek as “false and empty Topo”.

But Topolánek has put together an unbroken string of victories in presidential, senate, local and parliamentary elections.

His government colleagues, despite frequent tensions with his Christian Democrat and Green partners, praise him for piloting a generally cordial and purposeful cabinet. The prime minister’s powerbase is the gritty, and traditionally left-voting, eastern industrial Ostrava region, where he was born and grew up.

Topolánek’s political views are a curious combination. He opposes

the death penalty and any ban on abortion, but he is against legalising soft drugs and gay marriages. Ironically, given his criticism that the Czech media have sunk to the gutter, he once wanted to become a journalist but gave up on the idea because his father’s opposition to the communist regime meant university was barred to him. Instead, he attended a mechanical college in Brno, later returning to Ostrava where he worked as a mining engineer. He set up his own business within a couple of years of the 1989 revolution, but made a later entry into politics, joining the ODS as an already established Ostrava councillor in 1994 and being elected a senator two years later on a platform of family values and promotion of the struggling Ostrava region.

During the 2006 campaign which eventually brought him the premiership, the stakes were high for Topolánek and his party after eight years out of power. He worked hard on his television performances, and in one debate, he opted to appear alongside other party leaders to stress the merits of collective leadership, while his rival appeared alone and suffered from it. “We are a team,” Topolánek commented. That said, while Topolánek has grown as a party leader and prime minister, the ODS can be expected to be unforgiving if he loses the winning touch.

Novak

Sobora

Jan

Unlike previous two Czech PMs, Topolanek is an idealist whose aim in politics is to make his ideas come true, not enjoy his office as source of power (ex-PM Paroubek) or money (ex-PM Gross)…

Posted on 4/18/08 | 7:16 AM CET

Pavel S.

Nothing else than a pro-European tabloid, that’s all what this magazine is about. And the article is written in the same manner. No other voices and opinions are accepted than those praising EU and it’s bureaucrats. Any criticism is marked as blunt and rude attacks against European Commission. EU in general is outstanding project,nobody is saying that it is not(not even Klaus), but it has many faults and it is necessary to talk about them. But you, pro-European fanatics, are not able to accept any criticism at all, that’s the problem. And btw. everyone living on the west from Ural Mountains is European,not only people living in EU,you arrogant dummies.

Posted on 4/18/08 | 7:47 AM CET

Vera

Rude, vulgar ? Maybe, sometimes. Nobody is 100% perfect. In spite of all that – the best prime minister in last fifty years…